GigaPan Education Highlights

The GigaPan Youth Exchange project combines cultural inquiry, NASA imaging technology, and social media to let secondary-school students experience something of the life of their peers around the world. Here is one account of Gigpan being used in Chile:

Students read and examined tales from international and national authors. They first researched elements of writing, types of narration, styles of characters, the time in which the tale took place, the location, and the social-cultural context. Afterwards they used the GigaPan to photograph themselves as they represented the author’s vision. Students had to represent characters so they dressed themselves up as their particular character would.  They decided to act out a scenario and with roles in place used the GigaPan to record the scene. When the GigaPan finished the recording the images were uploaded to the GigaPan Dialogues Community education website. Students shared the GigaPan image with other classrooms that in turn did the same.

If you have access to the education.gigapan.org site, find more details here:

http://education.gigapan.org/project/197

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Gigapan and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. have collaborated to create an interactive, gigapixel image at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California this past weekend. Through Gigapan technology, viewers can zoom in and explore the incredible detail of this prestigious event within the entertainment industry.

The SAG Awards image was captured before the ceremony at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on January 26, 2013. Zoom into the image to see where the celebrities were sitting: http://sagawards.tntdrama.com/inside-the-shrine.

New Feature: Printing Now Available on Gigapan.com

Exciting new features from Gigapan! We recently added new printing and mobile capabilities to our suite of hardware, software, and cloud-based viewing.

Unique high-definition, interactive gigapixel images created with Gigapan technology can now be printed directly from our website. With this new service, visitors to the Gigapan site can purchase and print images in a range of sizes from the hundreds of images in Gigapan’s print gallery.

Also, to enhance the mobile viewing experience, Gigapan has introduced a new viewing capability that allows its images embedded on all external websites accessible via iOS devices.

For the full release, visit: http://www.gigapan.com/cms/pdf/printingpressrelease.pdf

Happy New Year from Gigapan

Welcome to the new year! Enjoy the the top images from 2012: Kaaba, Opening Ceremonies, Space Shuttle in Extreme Detail, and Cardinals at Giants Game. 

As we begin 2013, we want to hear about the exciting locations or events you plan to shoot GigaPan images year. From sporting events and concerts, to landmarks and cityscapes, let us know your plans to capture amazing images. Email marketing@gigapan.com and we can help promote your image(s) through our website and social media.

Photo credit: Issam Kanafani

Gigapan Part of Educational Efforts in Southern Chile

Gigapan recently became and integral part of Kelluwen, a project started in early 2010 which collaboratively builds a learning community of students, teachers and researchers involved in working with school and colleges in underserved Southern Chile.

See our hardware being used by teachers and students below. 

Professor Johanna Valenzuela and students at Séptimo Básico del Colegio Pumanque

Professor Claudio Villarroel and students of Octavo Básico de la Escuela Particular Horizonte 

Students of Octavo Básico preparing to take a photo

Gigapan in Nicaragua

Marielle Saums is a student at Carnegie Mellon University and a Project Leader for SIFE: Nicaragua. Below is her personal account of SIFE spending ten days in the community of Rosa Grande, Nicaragua conducting education and art initiatives this past May:

Our initiatives are developed with the help of Bridges to Community staff as well as recommendations from community members and leaders in Rosa Grande. Our specific accomplishments this year were conducting art classes with young students and computer workshops with teachers. We also helped build latrines, pro-respiratory stoves, and the beginnings of the new community library.

SIFE: Nicaragua seeks to foster community dialogue between Rosa Grande and Pittsburgh, and the opportunity to use Gigapan allowed us to map out the community in a way that is accessible to the public on a global scale. Understanding the layout of Rosa Grande is not only helpful for our own group members to plan future projects, but it also served to capture the community at a critical time of growth and transition.

Community members were quite interested and inquisitive about the Gigapan equipment. When I used the Gigapan to photograph the education buildings, the students were eager to appear in multiple shots! Parents and community leaders were also excited about being able to view the Gigapans online, as Rosa Grande recently acquired laptops and (limited) internet access through the European Union.

While the Gigapan equipment is quite easy to use, there were still unanticipated setbacks that hindered my ability to take more images. The lack of access to a steady electrical supply made it difficult to recharge the Gigapan scanner and digital camera. I also had to account for poor lighting conditions, as few homes can afford lighting, and prevent the stray farm animal from knocking over the tripod as I shot images. However, these inconveniences were an important reminder of the many resource limitations that rural communities face as they establish development projects.

People in Rosa Grande have experience with using visual methods to identify areas of social need. In addition to the SIFE: Nicaragua art workshops, local citizens have also collaborated with a group from the University of Virginia using PhotoVoice photography methods. If the Rosa Grande's internet accessibility improves, then the Gigapan website can be another method for crowd-sourcing solutions and providing informed perspectives about life in Rosa Grande. I also hope that the Gigapans will convey the commitment and passion evident in the many community-driven projects, from stoves to art classes.

The images also try to provide an idea of what SIFE:Nicaragua experiences in Rosa Grande and how we are able to contribute to the community. We are always seeking potential partnerships in both Rosa Grande and Pittsburgh and you can learn more about our work at sifenicaragua.tumblr.com

Group shot of SIFE: Nicaragua, our host Don Agusto, and other community members

This shows me taking a Gigapan of the school and talking with students about the project.

Gigapan in Antarctica

Gigapan loves first-person accounts about the travels and adventures that our users have with their Gigapan products. Here is a teacher from Ohio who used a Gigapan panohead to document her trip to Antartica to share with her students.

I am a first grade teacher on a scientific research team deployed at Palmer Station, Antarctica.  We are here studying a wingless fly called Belgica antarctica.   It is the southernmost, free-living insect in Antarctica and it's the largest animal that remains on land throughout the year.  As the team's educational outreach coordinator, I used Gigapan technology to connect students in my school district as well as nationally with scientific research taking place at the bottom of the world.  Antarctic Gigapan images can be found on my team's outreach blog at www.crestwoodexplorestheworld.org along with descriptive information and scavenger hunt challenges.  Gigapan gives (preschool-grade 12) students an opportunity to explore detailed images of the Antarctic environment, provoking thoughtful questions and higher levels of learning.